Defending champion Karolina Pliskova pulled off a doubleheader sweep Friday at the Western & Southern Open, reaching the semifinals by winning a pair of matches with little rest in-between. Rafael Nadal couldn't do the same.
Pliskova completed a match that was suspended overnight because of rain, beating qualifier Camila Giorgi in three sets. After a quick turnaround, she needed only 67 minutes to beat a rested Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-4 for a sweep into the semis.
"The first match helped me a little bit to have some rallies already today," Pliskova said. "Physically it was not that tough, so I was warmed up enough."
Nadal got only halfway there.
He spent an hour and 37 minutes on court in the afternoon while beating fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas in a match carried over from the previous night. Five hours later, he was back on court against Nick Kyrgios, who had won a three-set match earlier in the day.
Nadal was sloppy at the outset and on the defensive for much of a 6-2, 7-5 loss that lasted an hour and 20 minutes.
Despite the loss, Nadal will move back to No 1 in the ATP rankings next week for the first time since 2014, before a series of injuries affected his game.
After the match, Nadal wore a ribbon honoring the victims of the attack in Barcelona that left 13 people dead.
Kyrgios will face David Ferrer, who won his only match of the day — 6-3, 6-3 over fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem. At age 35, Ferrer is the second-oldest semifinalist in Cincinnati during the Open Era behind Ken Rosewall in 1970.
No 7 Grigor Dimitrov is the top seed left in a men's field depleted by upsets and injuries - Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and defending champion Marin Cilic missed the tournament because of injuries. Dimitrov needed only 52 minutes to beat Yuichi Sugita 6-2, 6-1.
He'll face John Isner, who beat wild-card Jared Donaldson 7-6 (4), 7-5.
In the women's bracket, Pliskova will face Garbine Mugaruza in the semifinals.
Sania, Bopanna out
Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza bowed out of the Cincinnati Masters after losing their quarterfinal and semifinal with respective partners.
Bopanna and his Croatian partner Ivan Dodig lost 1-6, 7-6, 7-10 to second seeds lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo in an enthralling three-setter quarterfinal.
In the WTA event, being run simultaneously, Sania Mirza and Shuai Peng lost to Hsie Su-Wei of Taiwan and Moncia Niculescu of Romania 4-6, 6-7 in the women's doubles semifinal.